Looks Given
by Assassination
Summary: They loved in the only way they knew how. [Rated T for just one swear word...better safe than sorry, right?]


**Assassination's Note:** Nero/Vergil is hinted here and it's a pair I got a soft spot for, but Dante/Vergil will _always_ be my favorite. (The end result isn't Nero/Vergil, so don't worry.)

* * *

He noticed a few things since coming to Devil May Cry. However, two things in particular stood out the most. Like how different Vergil and Dante were when they were off the battlefield. They would be in each other's faces every once in a while about one thing or another, but never once had they tried to really kill each other. Another thing he noticed was how the two would give the other a passing glance full of so much...

So much _love_.

It unnerved Nero once he realized exactly what lay beneath the surface of those looks. He hadn't seen it at first during his first couple days there. Which wasn't his fault, really. Nero had more pressing matters to attend to before he could focus on anything else.

Such as rationalizing how he somehow developed a liking toward the elder brother.

That threw him for a loop. Made no sense whatsoever.

Maybe if he hadn't been worried about that, he would have seen the adoring looks Dante and Vergil revealed when the other wasn't looking. Vergil's had been more subtle than Dante's, but Dante didn't seem to have any shame to start with. He looked at Vergil like one would a lover. Truly, madly, deeply.

Vergil would seem exasperated, even if his amusement was evident in the slight quirk of his lip. His eyes would soften. Melt from their icy glare and his regal posture would shift, loosening, relaxing, until he knew someone was looking. Then it vanished and he'd be back to 'the same old Vergil.'

Nero's stomach twisted into a knot and felt as if someone had punted it across a wide open field. His heart clenched and his chest felt tight, almost as if he couldn't breathe properly. It was a cruel reality, knowing he'd have no place in the grand scheme of things. Despite how Vergil opened up the door for him to step into their world beyond the walls of Devil May Cry.

He was intruding and he knew it.

Dante knew it.

Vergil surely knew as well.

There was no place for him here.

Nero shouldn't have even witnessed the things he had. Like the one night he'd just about entered the kitchen but stopped short when he saw Dante in there with Vergil, hand holding on tightly to Vergil's wrist. They'd stood closer than brothers should, almost sharing the same breath and Vergil had turned his head to the side, avoiding Dante's accusatory gaze. Nero had stood stock still as Dante, daringly (stupidly), grabbed Vergil's chin to force him to _look at him_.

"Why aren't you eating?"

Vergil had blinked, eyes falling halfway shut with a slight cock of his head. "What do you mean?"

Dante's jaw muscles ticked before he snarled out, "You know exactly what I mean."

"I'm afraid I don't -"

"That's a load of shit and you know it." Dante had loosened his hold on Vergil's wrist, just enough to slide his fingers along the back of Vergil's hand. It was slow, deliberate.

It was meant to be comforting.

"Vergil...why aren't you eating?" His voice had softened, close to warmed honey, coaxing Vergil to answer honestly.

Nero hadn't had it in him to continue eavesdropping on their, obviously private, conversation. There was no way he could intrude more than he had already and that's when it all came to light. He didn't have any doubts about it after keeping a close eye on them for the next few days. It was so blatantly obvious that he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed sooner.

This wasn't just some twisted version of co-dependency after leaning on each other for years after their mother's death. It wasn't as if they didn't understand there was a line to be drawn. There was more to it than needing each other in the sense of being one another's stepping stone. Much, much more than that and anything else that popped up in Nero's head when he tried to reason with his sudden understanding of just _what_ was going on between the two.

They _loved_ each other.

They loved each other in the purest, yet immoral, of ways.

They loved in the only way they knew how.

And it hurt so much to realize it when it was too late for him to nip his crush in the bud.

* * *

 **Assassination's Note 2:** The Dante and Vergil interaction in the kitchen is sort-of based off of something I'm working on a friend with. (Not **entirely** , hence the 'sort-of' before 'based.') The whole 'not eating' thing isn't suggesting that Vergil _starves_ himself. Far from. It's just a little something I see as a warning sign that something's wrong, which is why Nero left once he realized this was a **private** conversation that he shouldn't overhear.

Besides, we all cope with guilt in various ways - which is why Vergil's 'not eating' in this fic and it was more or less Nero's POV, so I couldn't delve into that even if I wanted to... Anyway! Some people get angry and possibly throw things, some swear their heads off, some sulk, etc. I just think Vergil decides to deal by not eating. Aka: mostly picking at his food. (As I said in a previous fic, this is why these things are called 'headcanons.')


End file.
